Donor question · Malaria
What's the best charity for malaria?
What the independent evaluators who study malaria charities most closely have published, with every figure linked to its source.
The short answer
Against Malaria Foundation and Malaria Consortium are GiveWell Top Charities.
We don't pick between them. GiveWell measures both the same way, so you can see them side by side.
Against Malaria Foundation
Buys long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets and works with local partners to hand them out in places where malaria is common, then checks the nets are still in use.
Evidence Exceptionally strong, rated by GiveWell
Malaria Consortium
Gives young children preventive malaria medicine during the rainy months, when malaria spreads most.
Evidence Exceptionally strong, rated by GiveWell
Modeled, not guaranteed. This is the evaluator's best estimate of the average, built from studies and assumptions. Your gift could do more or less. How to read these figures
If you can’t decide
Side by side
Two charities at a time, measured the same way by the same evaluator.
GiveWell Top Charities Fund
Pools donations and grants them to GiveWell's Top Charities wherever GiveWell judges the money is needed most.
It covers all of GiveWell's recommended charities, not only those working on malaria.
What to weigh before you give
- Strength of evidence. Evaluators also rate how sure they are. It’s shown next to each charity above when they publish a rating.
- Whether more money helps now. Each charity’s profile shows the evaluator’s funding-gap figure when one is published.
- Estimates, not prices. Each figure is an average from the evaluator’s model. A modest gap between two estimates may not reflect a real difference.
Everything we track for malaria
The full picture, including the approaches that work and other organizations in this area: Malaria.
Questions donors ask
- What's the best charity for malaria?
Against Malaria Foundation and Malaria Consortium are GiveWell Top Charities. We don't pick between them. GiveWell measures both the same way, so you can see them side by side. Each charity's page shows the figures, the source and how strong the evidence is.
- How do you choose which charities to list?
We list the charities that independent evaluators (GiveWell and the Happier Lives Institute) give their top or promising designation, in the same order as our cause pages. We don't re-score them, and no one can pay to appear or to move up.
- Which of them is better?
We don't pick a winner. GiveWell measures them the same way, so their figures can be read side by side, together with the strength of the evidence and each charity's funding needs.
- Should I give to one charity or a fund?
Both are reasonable. A fund run by an evaluator lets them direct your gift to where they judge the need is greatest; giving to one charity lets you choose the program yourself.
- Are these figures guaranteed?
No. They are modeled, not guaranteed: the evaluator's best estimate of the average, built from studies and assumptions. Your gift could do more or less.